Modern Irish Drama

by John P. Harrington (Editor)

This Norton Critical Edition of Modern Irish Drama reprints the complete texts of twelve plays by the major Irish playwrights: W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, J.M. Synge, Bernard Shaw, Sean O'Casey, Brendan Behan, Samuel Beckett, and Brian Friel.
The texts are fully annotated with explanatory notes on Anglo-Irish usage, place names, historical figures, and literary allusions. "Backgrounds and Criticism" contains almost fifty texts relevant to the twelve plays represented. Included are prefaces by the authors, reports by spectators on original productions, memoirs concerning playwrights and performances, and recent critical assessments by American, British, and Irish scholars. From its collection of documents relevant to the origin of the Irish Literary Revival in the midst of Ireland's republican revolution to the recent formation of the Field Day Company in Northern Ireland, Modern Irish Drama charts the rise and development of one of the most powerful national dramas of the twentieth century. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.

Genres: Plays, Ireland, Drama, Fiction, Irish Literature, Literature, Collections

577 pages, Paperback

First published March 19, 1991

Reviews

[Phillip]

W.B. Yeats' Cathleen ni Houlihan: https://youtu.be/y0eIV1e3xtA
-- On Baile's Strand: https://youtu.be/fFwMYnYPLwo
-- Purgatory:
Lady Gregory's Spreading the News:
-- The Rising of the Moon: https://youtu.be/vn5XzCaDSPU
J.M. Synge's Riders to the Sea:
-- The Playboy of the Western World:
Bernard Shaw's John Bull's Other Island:
Sean O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock:
Brendan Behan's The Quare Fellow:
Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape: https://youtu.be/T5Jqqmz8oXE
Brian Friel's Translations:

[Domhnall · Rating 5 out of 5]

The text of a dozen Irish plays, from Yeats to Brian Friel, accompanied by contemporary commentaries, this volume provides a handy cross section of Irish drama from the first part of the 20th Century. I read it as a necessary accompaniment to Declan Kiberd’s “Inventing Ireland” and I do not think any appreciation of Irish writing (or art) can be achieved without including its drama. That said, reading them is a most agreeable and interesting chore, without any hint of difficulty or strain.

If the Irish are considered a loquacious breed, in these plays a great deal of communication relies on according a true value to silences. For example, I recall in the Seventies seeing a performance of Krapp’s Last Tape by Beckett (with Max Wall demonstrating his hilarious silent mimes or silly walks) which provided a more than fulfilling evening’s entertainment; the text itself manages to cover eight pages, much of this being directions rather than speech, and it can be read through in half an hour without hurrying.

If the plays are easily read they are not so easily interpreted. Declan Kiberd does not exhaust their potential in his extensive and brilliant explorations and I have no immediate plans to compete. Some things can be said.

It is remarkable to see Yeats apply his poetic skills in a theatrical setting. Technically, the product is brilliant and the scope for such poetry is surely vast. What he has to say in these beautiful words is sadly despicable, since he misapplies his talent to build a hopelessly romantic fantasy around the notion of young men abandoning their lives to fight and die for their country. In Sean O’Casey’s contribution, we get a more realistic impression of what it looks like to employ hard men to put a bullet through a young man’s head, and he makes clear his view that it stinks no matter what side the young man may choose (or be chosen) to die for.

The plays generally succeed in using a local setting to make statements of general relevance. I leave Kiberd to explain the way Ireland’s progress towards decolonisation was noticed and commented on in other countries. I was struck more whimsically by Friel’s play, Translations. For example:

Yolland: I wish to God you could understand me
Maire: Soft hands, a gentleman’s hands
Yoland: Because if you could understand me I could tell you how I spend my days either thinking of you or gazing up at your house in the hope you’ll appear even for a second.
Maire: Every evening you walk by yourself along the Tra Bhan and every morning you wash yourself in front of your tent.

The point in this exchange is that the two characters are speaking different languages and do not understand one word of the other’s. The audience (reader) can accept this as part of the suspension of disbelief that is achieved by excellent writing (and acting). Yet it is hard to be sure that the resulting gap is any greater than that for any two lovers. In a different context, the play demonstrates that the act of translating from one language to the other (as is done with place names) does not solve any problems at all; the place names in English, as spoken by an English officer, are simply not recognisable to his Irish speaking audience, with potentially disastrous implications.

This problem of interpretation at the boundaries between two different cultures is brilliantly discussed in The Middle Ground, a study of the contact between European colonists in North America and native American Indians, which I reviewed here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The problem is described more amusingly in The Roads to Sata: A 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan by Alan Booth , which describes the way rural Japanese people simply could not comprehend the reality of a European speaking fluent Japanese to their face; they thought it was a foreign language when it was actually their own. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The focus of this Norton Critical Edition is the inception of the modern Irish theatre which is identified largely with the work of the Abbey Theatre, and particularly the efforts of Yeats and Lady Gregory. The anthology includes works in chronological order from other Irish playwrights of renown, including Synge, Shaw, O'Casey, Behan, Beckett, and Friel. Following those complete plays (12 in total) is a liberal selection of contemporary assessments and later critical appraisals, in keeping with the standard layout of a Norton critical anthology. I found the selections from Synge, Behan, and Friel to be the most compelling reading, but I confess I've seen none performed on stage. All in all, a compelling and readable introduction to the rich Irish theatrical tradition that I've been privileged to witness on two of my visits to Dublin.

[Pilar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good edition, structured in two parts:
1- The texts of the twelve plays selected by the editor.
2- A collection of documents related to these plays providing information
about the authors, the plays and the time when they were written and
released.
In addition to this, there is a Preface, notes, a chronology and a selected bibliography.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't read the entire book. Our book group is reading plays this month. I chose W.B. Yeat's "Cathleen Ni Houlihan." It is a political melodrama set in Western Ireland in 1798. Cathleen, an old woman, is the personification of Ireland. Her four green fields have been stolen from her and she wants the strangers out of her land. The play is very short and very nationalistic. The book gave information on the beginnings of the Celtic school of dramatic literature. Yeats, Lady Gregory, and Edward Martyn joined forces to produce Irish plays in the spring of each year. Yeats and Gregory founded the Abbey Theatre in 1903. The book also contains critical essays on the plays included in the book.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contains some of the most "important" plays written by Irish men and women about Ireland in some form (history, culture, revolution, humanity).

While some of these plays feel more important than they are relevant to our own day and age, they are still interesting reads. And then there are the plays that are always relevant: funny, touching, fantastic, depressing, life-affirming, etc.

This collection is particularly interesting for anyone interested in Ireland, theater history, or just being more informed on the plays that can get people so riled up that revolutions begin.

[Madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a collection of Modern Irish plays this is pretty good (although I will never understand why Yeats dabbled in drama...why, why, why?) and the articles provide interesting context. The footnotes are not very good, though - if you know anything about Irish history they are a waste of ink, and they don't tell you anything but the most basic information on any other topics. Usually Norton editions very good footnotes, so it's weird that these are so minimal.

[Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, so I didn't technically read ALL of it, but I worked off the majority of the edition in my modern Irish literature class. Much of Irish literature and drama is quite dark (probably something to do with being oppressed for 100s of years) but they have a real knack for showing humanity both at its worst and best. Browse through some of the plays here; I would recommend (in order) Translations, Juno and the Paycock, and Playboy of the Western World.

[Snuffles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read this partly.